Prince Harry‘s no-holds-barred interview with the BBC made headlines after he opened up about the years-long tension with the Royal Family – but staunch royal observers noticed a subtle difference in the prince.
He spoke to the BBC about losing a legal challenge over his UK security provision, saying it is ‘impossible’ to bring Meghan Markle and his children back to the UK.
Quick-eared listeners pointed out an American twang in Harry’s accent, as he mirrored his interviewer with some words.
Although he was taught to speak the King’s English, after five years of living in Montecito with Meghan, it appears Harry’s prim and proper Eton accent is disappearing in favour of a California drawl.
In the BBC interview he drops many of his ‘Ts’ such as in words like ‘citizen’, ‘repeat’, ‘putting’, ‘whatever’ and ‘security’.
Linguistically this is known as a ‘Quick T’ used between vowels, which sounds like a ‘D’.
At one point the American interviewer asked: ‘A change in your status – did you not accept that from the court?’
Harry replied by saying ‘My status’ in a British accent and then repeating the word with a Quick T and smiling. This line had now been removed from the BBC iPlayer version of the video.
Prince Harry – pictured leaving the High Court – said it is ‘impossible’ to bring Meghan Markle and his children back to the UK after losing a legal challenge
Harry’s no-holds-barred interview with the BBC made headlines after he opened up about the years-long tension with the Royal Family
Although he was taught to speak the King’s English, after five years of living in Montecito with Meghan, it appears Harry’s prim and proper Eton accent is disappearing in favour of a California drawl
When it comes to saying dates, he pronounces 2016 the American way of ‘twenty sixteen’ – as well as dropping the final ‘T’.
He even uses the word ‘dad’ rather than ‘papa’, which Royal Family members have preferred for centuries.
This comes after a language expert said that Harry might have picked up a few Americanisms since moving to the States with his wife Meghan and son Archie in 2020.
Former King’s College language specialist Tony Thorne said shades of an American accent could be heard in the Duke’s voice in a previous interview with US broadcaster NBC.
He said Prince Harry could be heard dropping his ‘Ts’ in some instances – including when talking about his home in Santa Barbara, California.
In November during a two-minute skit with musician Jelly Roll, filmed at New York tattoo parlour East Side Ink, people pointed out that he has now gone Cali cool.
One person wrote on X: ‘He totally has an American accent now,’ while another said: ‘Prince Harry’s British accent sounds more diluted to make way for the American accent.’
Fans now believe that Harry has adopted Meghan’s American accent and expressions, after a video emerged of him having a fake tattoo last year
Another said: ‘It sounds like Prince Harry is losing his British accent.’
In the clip, which was filmed to promote The Invictus Games, the Duke says the American term ‘Screw it, let’s do it,’ to American rapper and singer Jelly Roll.
He then used several American colloquialisms, calling the tattoo artist ‘dude’ and saying: ‘That [tattoo] feels big man.’
The royal then exclaimed: ‘You put your name on my neck,’ raising his voice at the end of the sentence, as US speakers tend to do.
He also appeared to say that the ink could be put on his ‘a**’, rather than using the English term ‘a***’.
Anthony Shuster, a communication coach and accent specialist, told The Telegraph: ‘You notice that there’s a huge difference between the way the King speaks and the way these guys speak.’
Speaking of Harry’s accent in the clip, he said: ‘It’s not exactly the stiff upper lip… There’s very little articulation at all.’
Mr Shuster also looked at another video of Prince Harry from 2004, during his gap year, where he spent eight weeks in Lesotho.
Reaction: One person wrote on X: ‘He totally has an American accent now,’ while another penned: ‘Prince Harry’s British accent sounds more diluted to make way for the American accent’
Harry can be heard saying: ‘Yeah it’s learning about the culture, isn’t it. Different country – not everybody knows about it.’
The language expert said that there is much research about children from affluent backgrounds dropping their t’s in order to sound ‘less posh’.
But it was in 2019 when the real change shifted after he met Meghan Markle, says Mr Shuster.
When he first introduced baby Archie into the word, Harry said: ‘Wow, he’s already got a little bit of facial hair as well.’ Except his t’s became d’s, which made the world ‘little’ sound like ‘liddle’.
Mr Shuster told the outlet: ‘That’s something that’s quite distinctly American, is to let your final ‘t’ sort of soften to a ‘d’.’
Jennifer Dorman, a linguistics expert, said that his vocabulary has become more Americanised since his big move in 2020.
In podcast recordings with his wife in 2021, Harry started peppering his speech with phrases including ‘awesome’ and ‘you guys’, she noted.
‘It could be that Prince Harry has started to borrow American phrases and words in order to fit in and be understood better by the American press,’ she told Cosmopolitan in 2021.
Behaviour expert Judi James was proved right when she said in 2021 that Harry’s accent was likely to change more in the future. Harry is pictured during the BBC interview
‘This could become so habitual that he uses these words when speaking to Brits and Americans alike.
‘Or he may just be mimicking his wife: interacting at a close level with someone all the time can cause us to pick up their speaking habits.’
Commenting on his tattoo video, one fan said: ‘He’s picking up American words. That’s good.’ Another chimed in and said: ‘American slang, a bit of the accent, love it!’
In 2021 behaviour expert Judi James said Harry had adopted elements of an American accent, with a rising inflection and ‘blending of words’ and that his accent was likely to change more in the future.
‘Harry, like many of us, has a tendency to adapt to his surroundings by mirroring and it was a trait that his mother Diana was good at too.
‘It can help create rapport as long as it’s not too obvious.’
Harry and Meghan’s children are growing up stateside, so it is no surprise they have their mother’s accent.
Videos shared on Meghan’s social media revealed three-year-old Princess Lilibet’s American twang.
Last month the Duchess of Sussex posted a video on Instagram in which she can be heard asking Lilibet what she thinks of her strawberry jam while preparing a fresh batch.
‘It’s beautiful,’ the toddler gushed, as her Californian accent shone through.
The first time royal fans heard Lilibet’s voice was in January 2025 when the Duchess posted an emotional tribute in memory of the Sussexes’ late beagle, Guy, on social media.
Meghan’s video included a tender moment in which the royal children sang to the beloved pooch, as well as a clip of Prince Archie and Guy that was taken during a car journey.
It appears that both Lilibet and Archie, five, have developed strong American accents since moving stateside; at one point, viewers can hear Archie say ‘he might fall’ with a pronounced twang while referring to the family’s beloved dog.
While it is unclear whether Harry’s new Cali twang is a natural change or a deliberate effort to fit in, it is certainly causing a stir.
